Unique Remake of Hokusai Ninja Masterpiece

YES...It's finally here! We are proud to announce - for the first time in over 115 years - the release of our much anticipated remake of one of Hokusai's most dramatic shunga designs.

One Exclusive Edition

This excellent two-parted piece will be issued in an exclusive first state edition of only 75, We have got the blocks and in the future they will not be re-issued. The prints are numbered, and stamped and signed by the artist. Nice ink bleed-through visible on the backside of the woodblock prints.

Additional Information

Authentic Feel

Earlier this year we gave the talented ukiyo-e artist Yuuya Shimoi the assignment to produce a reproduction of Hokusai's classic but rare design from the 'Erotic Book of Conjugal Eddies (Ehon futamigata)-series and asked him to honor the authentic feel of Hokusai's original as if issued at the original date 1803.

When we received the prints earlier this month I knew he succeeded in doing this. Yuuya remained close to the original (we have had the original twice in our collection!) and the print really takes you back to 1803 when it was first issued.

Blade of the Sword

He made one small adjustment concerning the blade of the sword that "connects" the two center pages. Since the original was issued in a book and four different blocks were used the depicted blade is interrupted by the space between the pages and for that reason does not form a continuous whole.

Straight Line

In our new remake the sword runs through in a nice straight line (see picture below)!

Iconic

In every ukiyo-e genre Hokusai worked in, he managed to produce iconic images that defined the specific genre. The most famous examples of this are of course The Great Wave off Kanagawa (c.1833) and The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (c.1814).

Conjugal Eddies

But his rare four-page scene (two-page fold-out) from 'Erotic Book of Conjugal Eddies (Ehon futamigata)'-series (originally issued in 1803) is an early example of his mastery in the shunga genre and must certainly be included among the most important works in erotic art.

This is what other experts say:

“…The scene of the robber raping a woman whose husband he has tied up and whom he taunts with the point of his sword, is one of the most horrifying of any shunga of the period … But the malevolent, black-clad figure of the robber is truly monumental and one of the most memorable images of the shunga even of this period.” (Jack Hillier The Art of the Japanese Book (London, 1987)

“…It (Ehon futamigata) contains the famous scene, unfolding over four pages, of a rape committed by a bandit while he keeps his victim’s husband at bay with a sword; the husband is tied up and screaming, but is no less sexually aroused than the bandit himself.” (Gian Carlo Calza in Poem of the Pillow and Other Stories by Utamaro, Hokusai…etc.).

Testimonial for the original “Ninja/ Home Invasion” piece:

Dear Marijn,

I want you to know that the Hokusai arrived safely and in perfect order in Beverly Hills thanks to your excellent packing. The customs people did open the box to examine the contents but, fortunately, because you had packed it so well they didn’t do any damage. The idea of putting the print first in a mailing tube and then in a box was brilliant!

It’s an absolutely beautiful piece! The colors are far more vivid than even in your JPEG of it. I am absolutely delighted to have it and thank you very much!!!